Butter cream is one of the few basic creams which have been used for centuries in cake filling and masking. Basically, it is a whipped butter with the addition of sweet components like icing sugar, fondant etc.
Egg is not used in every butter cream but it has the duty of making butter cream more lighter and tastier. Lightness also come from the amount of whipping time which puts more air in to it. Having said that, smooth butter cream should not have much air, especially for masking.
You can flavour butter cream easily with coffee, chocolate, nougat, lemon paste and so on. Pretty much any kind of flavouring which has a very low water content is ok. It is a little more tricky to use fresh fruit. Fresh fruits must be cooked first to remove the water content as much as possible. This will take away acidity from the fruit as well so to regain that fresh acidic bite, a few pinches of citric acid powder can be added.
There are four different main methods of making butter cream. Each with their own national identities.
ITALIAN or SWISS
Butter whipped with hot syrup meringue.
I wouldn’t call my recipe Italian because I do not boil my sugar syrup to add in to egg white but this method is probably the closes to mine.
GERMAN
Butter whipped with custard cream.
FRENCH
Butter whipped with sabayon.
AMERICAN or ENGLISH
No eggs used. Icing sugar or fondant, maybe some milk or cream added.
Learn it on video
Chef Serdar uses this recipe in 2 video tutorials, where you can watch it made, step by step.
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Sir in butter cream is there any replacement for egg white…is there eggless butter cream recipe?
1 kg icing sugar 1 kg butter. whipped
use also vanilla
Hello Chef, just a question why when i do italian butter cream It’s not consisting to cover a cake it’s runny very easly
If vanilla powder is not available what volume/weight of vanilla extract or bean paste do you recommend? Thank you for your help. Best wishes. Sarah
Any of those flavorings will work, please see the recommended amount.
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Hi Chef
Your buttercream recipe is divine…THANK YOU!
If I use the original recipe, is it good to cover the cake before the fondant (i.e. will it be firm enough so I can smooth out the fondant etc.)? At what time do you suggest I add color to the mixture, if I want it colored? Does it make any difference if it’s liquid or gel?
Thanks
Gel color is better . Any time you can add. Under the fondant ganache is still the best even you use buttercream inside.
Where would I find the German buttercream recipe. Also the German buttercream cover cakes the same way, or does it get firm in the refrigerator like the others?
Every buttercream will get firm in the fridge as long as the amount of butter not less than 50% wight wise. I worked in Germany 6 years and we mix custard cream and butter 50:50 and whipped till light. In general French mix sabayon. italian mix Meringue English and Americans mix icing sugar and milk (maybe cream). Russian mix Condense milk . As I said it is in general not always. Thanks
Hi Mr. Yener, I am a new one on your website ! So, I have just made your recipes of Butter cream. It is so smooth …. I can’t wait to put this on a cake!. I write to you because when I follow the receipe, I have notice that I did not know when I should add the vanilla powder ? (I use a liquid one). Thank you very much !
Right at the beginning . Thanks
Hi ? thank you for making me interrested in decorating cakes.
For the first time om ny life I could make beautiful cakes to my fift childs confirmation. All thanks to your videos. I am now rehersing to make boatcake to ny husbond. Just for fun.
Yesterday I should make this buttercream. I redused the recepy to 0.25, since I’ll not going to make a ton ofte cakes, just rehurce on big cupcakes. But the buttercream tasted not so good. I then discovered that I had used the original wight of butter. I am no going to make the mix og of eggwhites and sugar with that wight that lasts for full recipe, and then put in the buttercream I made yesterday instead of butter. I hope this will work. Then I can make several flavours and put in the freezer for later. Maybe I write as a comment underneeth how og worked.
I appologise for my English, I’m Norwegian and 47. So it’s a long time since I went to school and lerned English ?
I really love your videos and tutorials. You make it seem so easy. What is the best brand chocolate to use? Also can shortening be used to make buttercream if you are living in a tropical climate like the West Indies.
Hi Cherryl, how can I advise you which chocolate to use, I never been in West Indies. For buttercream, you have to use butter, otherwise, you can not call buttercream. If you really want to use something else Crisco is good because it is white.
Hi
i make it four times, two times was it very good en the others two not, i do not know why one time i get well a good meringue and the other time sloppy? may be when its fail i wash the bowl and doe it again and the bowl is not completely dry , ?? i i know i have it dried well but possible that it remains moist
Moist no problem . It was a residue of oil in it. or a bit of yolk. Maybe…
Hallo
Thank you chef
my question my be not so clear ,you said that i can mix the custard cream and buttercream in any ratio, i want to now the ratio between the You can mix the custard cream and buttercream
Thank you veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy much
Okay, now I understand. There is no exact proportion for the best result. I would do 1 to 1 if I use for inside the cake and mixing other flavours but I would do 1 custard cream 2 butter for masking the cake, it will be whiter and smoother.
Hoi
You are a miracle
i told you once, when i know you i canceled every other recipes except yours, GOD BLESS YOUR HANDS
Merry Christmas & Happy new Year
Dear Chef
i dont know how much i can thank you , and i which way , you give us so good answer and help us all the times, you know when i find your website, i delete all the recipes which i have
sir , i have aquestion, can i mix the butter cream with this custard recipe to get Crème au beurre ,of course i live in Holland which is cold all the times
thank you
Yes of course. You can mix the custard cream and buttercream in any ratio. Thanks
Thank you , which ratio you advise me
1-2-3
1xEggwhite 2xsugar 3xbutter
and one another question.i use animal butter or plant(margarine)butter?
Butter produced from cow milk please.
Margarine isn’t even plant butter but plastic and chemicals
hi mr yener i have few question.1 at what tempreture the eggs and sugar
in mixer mix?ambient tempreture or immediately after mixing with water bath method?2 i mix the eggs and sugar until i reach to stiff peacks? 3 when i add butter cube i mix them with flat beater? as you can see your butter cream in picture is firm and strong but my product isnt firm and soft and is not good can you say why my butter cream is not firm? thank you and im sorry for my bad english
hi YENER its the recipe to mask a cake after fondant?
Hi , I will not mask the the cake with butter cream after fondant.If you like to do that do that after ganache or also butter cream.
Hi Chef Yener,
I have pasteurized egg whites. Can I skip mixing the egg whites with sugar over fire to sterilize it?
Thank you … …
Yes but . If you have to whip a meringue you have to melt the sugar in egg white over the double boiler anyway.
Ok Chef … Thank you for your response
Chef Yener; i want to ask how long can i store the buttercream in fridge? And also can i store the ganache in fridge and how long time must be? Thankyou.. and hello from cyprus for you from Pere’s:)
Hallo, you can store buttercream, airtight in the 4C fridge for a month if it is Italian style ( with meringue ). Ganache even longer. If I need to store these creams so long, I would keep them in the freezer in 500 g containers than minimum a year. Do not forget mould starts from wrong handling.Thanks
Hi Yener, I live in queensland 2hr north of brisbane so we share the same climate. Do you think I could use this buttercream inside the cake and then use your method of chocolate skin and ganache on the outside? I want to cover in fondant. Would i then put fondant cake in the fridge or buttercream can sit out a few days in aircon? Im just worried if i refrigerate fondant it will sweat when i take it out, but if i leave the cake out won’t the buttercream spoil? Its egg white and I thought council requires us to keep refrigerated. Very keen to hear what you do here or do you only use ganache? Thanks
1. The ideal thing is after fondant the cake stay and decorated in air condition room (max 22 C).
2. If decoration takes 1-day, Italian meringue ( boiling syrup) base buttercream inside okay ( with your own responsibility)
3. If longer use ganache also inside.
Good luck
Hello again Yener,
I love your buttercream icing and it is very easy to follow the instructions. i have even made buttercream with cornstarch syrup and italian meringue buttercream. I made double the batch using your recipe and i am not getting the stiffness i have achieved before. what can i do to make it a little stiffer. i would like to use this tomorrow. should i make a little more meringue and add to the twice the amount i have made. I am storing it in a air tight container in the fridge and want to re whisk it to see if i can stiffien it a little more. it peaks but the whole product is floppy when stir with a spetulla. i am making a school bus cake for my grandson and traveling from Rochester NY to Toronto Canada at least 4 hour drive and have 3 days to make it. i only work on the cake after work so have few hours a day to work with it. and i do not want to waste the supplies i have used which is a lot of butter.
The stiffness of buttercream is depending on 3 things 1. how much air been injected that mean how long whipped so less whipping is stiffness 2. How cold is the finished buttercream so if it is too soft keep it for a while in the fridge and slowly mix again without whipping. 3 . How much sugar in the recipe. When you finished my recipe which is 1xeggwhite-2xsugar-3xbutter you can fold more icing sugar into it as much as another 2 times . That makes the recipe little more sweet but stiffer at the same time. My last advice is you can also add a little-modified starch while you whipping. Hope this helps.
Hi Chef Yener, I have all best words for you.The thing i want to ask is does butter cream changes the flavor of the cake? Lets say chocolate flavor cake. Please tell me what is chocolate skin ,you mentioned it above.Best regards
Hi Biljana I did not understand the first question. Chocolate skin is brushing or scraping chocolate on outside of the cake to create firm skin . This will help avoiding air bubbles and resistance agains pushing with fondant leveller . You need one or two more coats of ganache or butter cream before fondant.
Hello Chef Yener,
Once the cake is covered with butter cream n refrigerated then will I be a able to cover it with fondant….n if yes what is the procedure. Chef Yener if you could please share your fondant recipe I will be grateful…
Thank you n God bless you.
if I may interject our climate is mainly hot rather than cold and sometimes in between(rain/sunshine) my first experience with ready made buttercream taught me to use a little less of butter required by the recipie when I’m making homemade also to pay careful attention when mixing with the electrical appliance at short intervals check to see the level of stiffness you desire to restore a pronounce butter taste i add a little wiltons’ butter flavour and i do add some cream of tarter the results have been astonishing.Hope my imput helps.
Hello Yener. What type of chocolate is used for the chocolate skin meaning what percentage or does it matter?
We use compound chocolate for chocolate skin before ganache. Thanks
Hi Yener, what do you mean by chocolate skin and ganache. Thanks
Hi Lishana, sorry for late response. What my dad meant by chocolate skin and ganache is covered in this article…
https://www.yenersway.com/blog/tips-tricks/prevent-air-bubbles-bulges-fondant-icing/
Hope it helps.
Hello Chef,
I’m wondering what you think of adding shortening to the buttercream, in place of some of the butter. In my experience, it does take away from the flavor a little, but it helps keep the buttercream from melting in the heat.
Yes . I would say up to 50 percent REPLACE butter.
Hi Yener, I watch you wedding cake tutorial, what do you use as a crumb coat and what fondant do you use to travel with the cake without problems.
Ganache for crumb coat . chocolate skin and ganache twice again. I use our own fondant. satin ice is good ..Thank you
Hi Yener, I live in Singapore and using English/American buttercream is a pain because it melts, will this recipe of your holds its shape?
yes i think so . you have to work in air condition room then is no problem..